BitMEX, the cryptocurrency exchange and derivatives trading platform co-founded in 2014 by Arthur Hayes, is looking for a buyer, according to two people with knowledge of the plans. The storied exchange, which arguably made perpetual futures the most popular product among leverage-hungry crypto traders, appointed boutique investment bank Broadhaven Capital Partners late last year to … Read more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is dropping yet another case against an American crypto company, as the regulator continues its strategic retreat from the so-called “regulation by enforcement” approach to crypto regulation it took under the leadership of former Chairman Gary Gensler. Joe Lubin, CEO of Brooklyn-based crypto software company ConsenSys, said in … Read more
Blackbird, the restaurant loyalty platform founded by Resy and Eater co-founder Ben Leventhal, shared Thursday that its Flynet mainnet is live, bringing restaurant payments on-chain. Flynet is a layer-3 blockchain based on top of Coinbase’s Base chain. Base, a layer-2 network, allows users to transact on top of Ethereum for faster and cheaper. The team … Read more
What if artificial intelligence (AI) agents could hire other AI agents to help them with their work? That’s essentially the idea behind Mech Marketplace, a decentralized platform from crypto-AI firm Olas that enables easy collaboration between various AI agents on an autonomous basis. “We’re not at a point where AI agents can do everything,” David … Read more
Crypto crime was rife in 2024 despite it being a landmark year for institutional adoption. A report by blockchain security firm Chainalysis reveals that $40 billion was received by illicit addresses. The $40 billion is an estimate that will rise throughout 2025 as more details around historical crimes emerge. The illicit crypto in question can … Read more
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Within hours of the announcement that he’d started as the crypto counselor for Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, former Galaxy Digital lawyer Tyler Williams was addressing a private digital assets event in Washington, D.C., telling the crowd that helping Congress get stablecoin legislation across the goal line is a worthy opening effort. “Be … Read more
Recent security breaches have rocked the crypto space, highlighting the fact that security will continue to need to be a key focus for providers. In today’s issue, Marcin Kaźmierczak from Redstone Oracles breaks down why 2025 will be a critical year for DeFi and on-chain finance. Then, Kevin Tam looks at the institutional adoption of … Read more
What was shaping up to be a strong opening for U.S. stocks is less so after President Trump clarified his latest thoughts on tariffs. In a post on his Truth Social complaining about the influx of drugs from both north and south of the U.S. border, the president said tariffs will begin against Mexico and … Read more
CoinDesk Indices presents its daily market update, highlighting the performance of leaders and laggards in the CoinDesk 20 Index. The CoinDesk 20 is currently trading at 2795.83, up 3.2% (+86.05) since 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday. All 20 assets are trading higher. Leaders: AVAX (+8.2%) and DOT (+8.1%). Laggards: Laggards: SOL (-5.6%) and UNI (-4.3%). … Read more
Digital-asset insurance broker Native said it arranged $25 million of blockchain-based cover against hacks for Team Rizzo, an operator of machine-learning businesses and staking validator services on Bittensor, the popular cryptocurrency-driven AI network. The London-based company acted as a broker and also an underwriter using its own syndicate and capital pool on Nexus Mutual, a … Read more
Raise, a PayPal-backed company specializing in digital gift cards and loyalty programs, has raised a $63 million round led by Haun Ventures. The round brings Raise’s total funding to over $220 million. Other participants included Amber Group, Anagram, and GSR, among others, according to a press release. The Chicago-based company is set to use the … Read more
Bitcoin (BTC) has dropped 10% to $86,300 this week, diving out of a prolonged period of trading between $90,000 and $110,000. The so-called bearish range breakdown has traders closely examining charts for clues about where the sell-off may drive prices next. One of the key levels under scrutiny is the “runaway gap” in CME bitcoin … Read more
Institutional crypto storage firm BDACS said on Wednesday it will use Ripple Custody, a storage service by payments firm Ripple, for securing institutional holdings of XRP and dollar-pegged stablecoin RLUSD. The collaboration aims to bolster Ripple’s ecosystem, enhance RLUSD adoption, and tap into South Korean port city Busan’s blockchain-friendly economic zone. Ripple Custody provides software … Read more
By James Van Straten (All times ET unless indicated otherwise) Two contradictory philosophies jump to mind when considering bitcoin’s (BTC) price action of late. Do you “buy when there is blood in the streets”? Or perhaps “don’t catch a falling knife.”? Which applies in today’s market, the day after the largest cryptocurrency posted its steepest … Read more
Pakistan has said it will set up a national crypto council to develop legislation for the sector, following a meeting with President Donald Trump’s digital asset advisors, according to a report by local news site Dawn. The council would be a dedicated advisory body that consists of government representatives, regulatory authorities and industry experts. It … Read more
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) asked for crypto industry help in tracking and blocking transactions intended to launder the $1.5 billion stolen from Bybit by North Korean hackers. The FBI published a list of Ethereum addresses that are holding or have held assets from the theft in a public service announcement on Wednesday. The … Read more
Metaplanet Inc (3350) is seeking to raise another 2 billion Yen ($13.3 million) by selling additional ordinary bonds with a 0% interest. The funds will be used to buy more bitcoin (BTC), aligning with the company’s strategic investment plan. The bond issuance is exclusively allocated to Evo Fund, with redemption scheduled for Aug. 26. The … Read more
Ether (ETH) continued its multi-day slide on Thursday with a 7% drop in the past 24 hours as the prolonged crypto sell-off showed no signs of a pause. Bitcoin (BTC) was trading between $89,000 to $82,500 in U.S. trading hours on Wednesday, staging a slight recovery in early Asian hours to just over $86,000. The … Read more
Bitcoin’s (BTC) prolonged range play above $90K has concluded bearishly this week, and how? The 12.6% drop observed in the first three days of the week (per UTC hours) marks the largest decline since the FTX bankruptcy in November 2022, according to data from TradingView. The sell-off is consistent with CoinDesk’s analysis earlier this month, … Read more
Artificial intelligence (AI) firm CoreWeave is planning to file for a public listing in the U.S. within a week, according to a Bloomberg report. The cloud computing firm wants to raise around $4 billion from the listing, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. It is targeting a valuation of over $35 billion, … Read more
Stablecoins and the role of Congress in addressing future digital assets legislation took center stage during one of the Senate Banking Committee’s first hearings to focus on what a regulatory framework for crypto may look like. The Wednesday hearing, framed as the jumping-off point for further Congressional action on digital asset regulations, was the first … Read more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) might be done with Gemini, but Gemini isn’t done with the SEC. According to a Wednesday X post from Gemini co-founder and President Cameron Winklevoss, the SEC informed Gemini on Monday that it was closing its investigation into the New York-based crypto exchange and would not be filing … Read more
Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit has published a forensic review on last week’s $1.5 billion hack, revealing that its systems had not been infiltrated and that the issue seemed to have stemmed from compromised Safe wallet infrastructure. Bybit concluded from the review that “the credentials of a Safe developer were compromised,” which allowed the Lazarus hacking group … Read more
Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk’s weekly wrap-up of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech development. I’m Ben Schiller, managing editor at CoinDesk. In this issue: Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade Goes Live Avalanche Visa card launched Ethereum Foundation executive director leaving Hackers using GitHub to steal bitcoin Network News PECTRA GOES LIVE ON TESTNET: Ethereum’s Pectra … Read more
Core Scientific (CORZ) stock surged more than 11% after-market on Wednesday after the data center and bitcoin mining company said it was planning a $1.2 billion expansion of a data center in Denton, Texas, with CoreWeave, to support artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance cloud computing (HPC). “The 70 MW [megawatt] of additional contracted power at … Read more
Bitcoin miners that are still drawing electricity from grid-attached power sources will struggle after the next halving event in 2028, MARA Holdings (MARA) said in a shareholder letter. “For those miners still relying on grid-attached power, the writing is on the wall. Energy costs will only rise. The 2028 halving will likely force another industry-wide … Read more
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Tron Foundation and Justin Sun filed a joint motion Wednesday asking a federal judge to pause the securities regulator’s ongoing case against the crypto entrepreneur and his company. The motion is similar to motions filed in the SEC’s ongoing cases against Coinbase and Binance. In both cases, the … Read more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a ruling on Wednesday largely agreeing with a lower court’s 2023 decision to toss out a class action suit against decentralized exchange Uniswap. A group of investors originally sued Uniswap Labs, the company behind the decentralized protocol of the same name, and some of its … Read more
Gotbit founder Aleksei Andriunin, a 26-year-old Russian national, was extradited to the U.S. on Tuesday to face fraud charges stemming from allegations that his firm participated in a “wide-ranging conspiracy” to manipulate token prices for paying client cryptocurrency companies, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a press release on Wednesday. Andriunin was arrested in … Read more
The U.S. House of Representatives has taken the first significant move to erase the work of the Internal Revenue Service to impose a tax regime on decentralized financial (DeFi) platforms in the final days of former President Joe Biden’s administration. The House Ways and Means Committee — the panel responsible for overseeing the Treasury Department’s … Read more